With their new Planetary Defense Coordination Office, NASA has taken on a very important job: detecting asteroids and comets, and defending the planet from their potentially destructive capabilities.
According to CNN, the office is managed by the Planetary Science Division of the Science Mission Directorate at NASA Headquarters in Washington DC.
Its mission is centered around the early detection of potentially hazardous objects (PHOs). These objects consist primarily of asteroids and comets that have the potential to get within 0.05 Astronomical Units of Earth’s orbit around the sun (7.5 million kilometers) and are large enough to reach Earth’s surface — and do some serious damage while they’re at it.
An important part of ensuring Earth’s safety from these sorts of PHOs involves examining the orbits of other planets in the solar system as well, as factors like Jupiter’s massive gravity have the potential to redirect the trajectory of orbits in ways we might not have anticipated.
Aside from PHOs, we also have to worry occasionally about near-Earth objects (NEOs) which are closer and more direct threats than the average PHO.
More than 13,500 NEOs have been discovered to date and around 1,500 are detected each year.
“Asteroid detection, tracking and defense of our planet is something that NASA, its interagency partners, and the global community take very seriously,” said John Grunsfeld, associate administrator for NASA’s Science Mission Directorate in Washington.
Grunsfeld mentions that even though there are no direct impact threats at this time, the “2013 Chelyabinsk super-fireball and the recent ‘Halloween Asteroid’ close approach remind us why we need to remain vigilant and keep our eyes to the sky.”
In the future, the new office will also be able to detect asteroids that are near enough to the Earth to be exploited for their resources and raw materials.